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How to Compete With Big Business Online

A common problem many Internet marketers share is trying to compete with big business online.

Companies like Amazon, eBay and Buy.com can make it extremely difficult for the little guy running his/her own small eCommerce site.

These companies have endless amounts of money for advertising and brand recognition so how can your little site compete with that?

The obvious answer is that you need to stand out.

Let’s say, for example, that your site sells small home electrical appliances, books, music CD’s, DVD’s and games. We already know the three bigger sites above sell those items also.

In order for you to compete in that arena you’ll need to find a way to be unique. Since your site sells more media material than home appliances it may be a good idea to narrow your product line down to only include media. Once you’ve narrowed down to selling media only your business will be in a tighter niche making it easier to target your audience.

The next step should be to start branding your business. What can you do to set your online business apart from the rest? Big Business understands branding well but that doesn’t mean you can’t compete. You can easily brand with the best of them. Now that your niche has been narrowed down maybe your new buzz words could be something like ” One Stop Entertainment for a Diverse World.”

Boom! You’re different from all the rest.

Now all you need to do is back it up. Give your customers what they so desperately want. Focus your efforts on being what you say you are. Offer CD’s, DVD’s, Blu-Rays, cassettes, books, magazines, and games for the entire world in many different languages. Become the site that offers entertainment to a whole world and do it with class.

If you really want to drive the nail in the coffin for big business you could also add a solid pay per click campaign. This can generate instant interest along with instant sales. It’s a great way to compliment your organic search campaign. I personally like Google AdWords when it comes to pay per click. Using a properly researched keyword campaign you can generate hundreds or thousands of visitors for as little as $.04 per click. Do not, however, start an AdWords campaign without knowing what your doing or it could prove very costly with little reward . Google offers some excellent tutorials and videos on how to run a proper campaign. In addition there are many other books available on the market written by successful AdWords Campaign Managers from all around the world.

Use your new buzz slogan everywhere in every ad you make….regardless if it’s in print or online. Place it under your site heading and in your company email signatures. Use it in your link building program if possible. You want people to know that this is what you’re all about and you don’t mind showing them.

Treat your customers like royalty and deliver on time every time and you will soon see that not only can you compete with big business online……you can become big business online.

Free Internet Marketing Tips

Since just about everything in the world of Internet marketing comes with a cost I thought it might be friendly if I offer some free Internet marketing tips.

I have seen the information I’m about to tell you sell for as much as $97.00 on the Internet. Granted, the product is always wrapped up nicely with pretty bows and bells with whistles but it’s still the same information in condensed format. I assume some online marketers figure if somebody is going to be silly enough to pay it then they might as well be silly enough to charge an astronomical price for it.

The business of Internet marketing is tough enough as it is to find success. You shouldn’t have to pay through the nose just to get started.

Later…I’ll tell you the other reason why I titled this article “Free Internet Marketing Tips”.

But right now I want to share with you the free Internet marketing tips I wish I would have found when I first started and there’s only three of them.

Seriously…..If you’re starting this venture on your own, these are the three most important.

If they don’t scare you off then I’d say you might be ready to start your online business.

First – Do Your Homework - Proper research will save you a ton of money and a ton of time trying to fix mistakes that could have been avoided. Regardless if you plan on selling a product of your own or affiliate products you really need to understand the competition that will be involved in your field or niche. You can begin to study certain keywords using a tool such as the free Google AdWords Keyword Tool. It will help you narrow down the kind of traffic a certain idea, niche or keyword gets on a monthly basis. Because of the nature and sheer size of the Internet you will inevitably make some mistakes but nothing compares to proper research. If you study what your competition is doing right…. it will give you an immediate and solid edge over the 95% of people who blindly jump into Internet marketing without proper research.

Second…Treat Your Internet Marketing Business as a Business – It must be done this way. Don’t assume you can dive in halfheartedly and earn a fortune. It doesn’t work like that. To be successful at selling products or anything else online you need to cross over to the real world of business. This means you need to find a way to brand your business and build it up. You should always try to make professional decisions rather than impulse decisions. What’s good for you may not be so good for your business. Also….It may be quite sometime before you start to actually see a profit. To see quicker profits you might have to spend money on your Internet marketing business. If this is the case be sure you research any and all products before you purchase them.

Generally speaking…. and especially online….if it sounds too good to be true it probably is!

Finally – Become an SEO Expert – It’s pretty simple to build your own website with today’s web hosting companies. Most of them have made it as simple as copy and paste. It’s no longer necessary to have a college degree in computer programming and coding. It is an absolute must, however, to learn how to promote your website. By forcing yourself to become an SEO (search engine optimization) expert you will learn the steps necessary to draw interested individuals to your online business. A niche with low competition and a properly optimized site for search engines will be the ultimate factor deciding if your Internet marketing business will be successful or not. It can mean the difference between your site getting 10 visitors a day or 10,000 visitors a day. Which do you think is better? Of course you want the 10,000 visitors a day. Everybody does! Just know that in order to accomplish that you’re going to need to learn everything there is to know about good SEO. ….and what’s more…..you’ll need to keep up with it’s ever changing rules of the industry.

Ok…so that’s my three free Internet marketing tips.

I told you earlier I would share with you the other reason I titled this article “Free Internet Marketing Tips.”

It’s because the keyword “free internet marketing tips” is a very inviting title with a relatively low monthly traffic count as compared to other keywords in the same field. This means less competition for me to get most of the monthly traffic for that particular phrase.

I mean….you found this article easily right?

Think about it.

How to Know What to Improve on Your Website

If you’re like most good webmasters you’re always searching for new ways to improve your website.

This can sometimes be difficult to do without knowing what needs improvement.

One way to find out is by getting opinions from family and friends. Have them look at your site and give you an honest opinion about the navigation, color schemes, fonts, etc. They might not operate a website like you , however, it’s entirely possible that you have a biased opinion of your webmaster skills. Outside viewers may be able to clue you in on something you’re missing in the overall layout.

You can also check out some of the other articles on this blog to help with your site. I’ve written quite a bit and I try to write articles related to the problems I have experienced and overcome.

Another excellent way to improve your website is to check your website grade at Website Grader.

Their site has been around for quite some time. They’ve graded and helped to improve over 2 million websites. It’s free to use their service and after you enter your URL you will learn a multitude of different tasks necessary to compete with the best ranking websites in the world. The program grades your site on things such as inbound links, interior page analysis, imaging, headings, meta-data, domain age, readability level and much more. The finished report will also offer well needed tips for improvement.

When I first started using their grader my site scored a 39. It now has a grade of 93 and I owe most of that to the information I learned from Website Grader.

Thanks to their awesome tool I have dramatically improved my website allowing it to compete with some of the best sites in the world.

If you haven’t checked them out I would highly recommend you do so.

I’m not affiliated with them….I’m just really happy I found them.

Even if you’ve been building sites for years you may still find a few good ways to improve your website.